144 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



mals, and Mr. Bakewell's celebrated buck " Two Pounder" was let foi 

 the enormous price of four hundred guineas for a single season ! The 

 New Leicester has spread into all parts of the British Dominions, and 

 been imported into the other countries of Kurope and the United States. 

 They were first introduced into our own country by the late Christopher 

 Dunn, Esq., of Albany, about twenty-five years since.* Subsequent import- 

 ations have been made by Mr. Powel, of Philadelphia, and various other 

 gentlemen." 



It is no more than justice to say that this breed has never proved a fa- 

 vorite with any large class of American farmers. Our long, cold winters, 

 but more especially our dry, scorching summers, when it is often difficult 

 to obtain the rich, green, tender feed in which the Leicester delights the 

 general want of green feed in the winter, robs it of its early maturity, and 

 even of the ultimate size which it attains in England. Its mutton is too 

 fat, and the fat and lean are too little intermixed, to suit American taste. 

 Its wool is not very salable, from the much to be regretted dearth of 

 worsted manufactories in our country. Its early decay and loss of wool 

 constitute an objection to it, in a country. where it is often so difficult to 

 advantageously turn off sheep, particularly ewes. But, notwithstanding 

 all these disadvantages, on rich lowland farms, in the vicinities of consid- 

 erable markets, it will always probably make a profitable return. 



The following description of what constitutes the desirable characterist- 

 ics of this breed, is from the pen of Mr. Youatt :t 



" The head should be homless, long, small, tapering toward the muzzle, and projecting 

 horizontally forward. The eyes prominent, but with a quiet expression. The ears thin, 

 rather long, and directed backward. The neck full and broad at its base, where it proceeds 

 from the chest, so that there is, with the slightest possible deviation, one continued horizon- 

 tal line from the rump to the poll. The breast broad and full ; the shoulders also broad and 

 round, and no uneven or angular formation where the shoulders join either the neck or the 

 hack particularly no rising of the withers, or hollow behind the situation of these bones. 

 The arm fleshy through its whole extent, and even down to the knee. The bones of the 

 leg small, standing wide apart ; no looseness of skin about them, and comparatively bare of 

 wool. The chest and barrel at once deep and round ; the ribs forming a considerable arch 

 from the spine, so as in some cases, and especially when the animal is in good condition, to 

 make the apparent width of the chest even greater than the depth. The barrel ribbed well 

 home ; no irregularity of line on the back or belly, but on the sides ; the carcass very grad- 

 ually diminishing in width toward the rump. The quarters long and full, and, as with the 

 fore legs, the muscles extending down to the hock ; the thighs also wide and full. The legs 

 of a moderate length ; the pelt also moderately thin, but soft and elastic, and covered with 

 a good quantity of white wool not so long as in some breeds, but considerably finer." 



THE SOUTH DOWN. " This breed of sheep has existed for several centu- 

 ries in England, on a range of chalky hills called the South Downs. They 

 were, as recently as 1776, small in size, and of a form not superior to the 

 common wooled sheep of the United States. Since that period, a course of 

 judicious breeding, pursued by one man (Mr. Ellman, of Glynde, in Sussex), 

 has mainly contributed to raise this variety to its present high degree of per- 

 fection, and that, too, without the admixture of the slightest degree of foreign 

 blood. In our remarks on this breed of sheep, it will be understood that 

 we speak of the pure improved family, as the original stock, presenting, 

 with trifling modifications, the same characteristics which they exhibited 

 sixty years since, are yet to be found in England and as the middle 

 space is occupied by a variety of grades, rising or falling in value, as they 

 approximate to or recede from the improved blood. 



" The South- Down is an upland sheep, of medium size, and its wool, 

 which in point of length belongs to the middle class," has been estimated 

 to rank with half-blood Merino, and was so estimated in my Report, quo- 



* Now about 35 years eince. * YouaK c* %e*o, p. 110, 



